Reviews & Analysis

Friction typically scales with load but magnetic systems can defy this rule. Sliding arrays of magnetic rotors reveal that energy dissipation peaks where competing magnetic orders dynamically clash. This non-monotonic magnetic drag arises from sliding-induced hysteresis, offering a blueprint for tunable, contactless braking at any scale.

Both superfluorescence and amplified spontaneous emission are observed in giant perovskite nanocrystals with the transition between these two cooperative emission regimes worked out by tuning temperature, excitation fluence and emitter density.

Quadrupolar topological defects act as organization centres for material failure in a biomimetic active nematic solid.

Materials with 5d electrons are receiving increasing attention due to their unique properties and functions. To understand property–function relations, this Perspective analyses six key factors in the electronic structure of 5d electron materials in a range of application areas.

A family of glassy materials emerges from local structural optimization, revealing an unexpected form of long-range orientational order.

A single monomer can be leveraged to generate polymeric materials with diverse structures or tunable properties and chemical recyclability.

A resonant inelastic X-ray scattering interferometric approach exposes a highly entangled electronic ground state in a pyrochlore iridate, linking quantum entanglement to intertwined symmetry-breaking orders in a correlated metal near a metal–insulator transition.

Time- and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy now resolves the long-sought avoided crossing in light-driven graphene, establishing a practical recipe for Floquet band engineering and sharpening prospects for light-induced topology in quantum materials.

Three-dimensional all-dielectric photonic topological insulators are experimentally shown to control far-field emission via the pseudo-spin degree of freedom.

We developed a hydrogel-based iontronic reservoir system as a neuromorphic neuroprosthesis. It achieved more than 90% accuracy on multiple recognition tasks, muscle fatigue sensing via pH-responsive dynamics of its self-healing hydrogels, and rapid and robust functional recovery (0.02 s). The system supported adaptive closed-loop neural stimulation in vivo based on voice commands and muscle states.

Using multiple spectroscopies, it is shown that water oxidation on iridium oxides is driven by accumulated oxygen ligand holes.

Nanoscaled selectors made of elemental selenium that show picoampere-level leakage current and an on/off ratio of 10⁸ call for rethinking electrical transport mechanisms.

We developed a nanoadjuvant platform that targets early endosome membranes in tumour cells, triggering their pyroptosis and the release of pyroptosomes, which act as an in situ vaccine against the tumour. In preclinical cancer models featuring multiple metastases, this nanoplatform enabled spatiotemporal induction of robust immune responses, resulting in systemic tumour eradication and long-lasting antitumour immunity.

Low-cost, efficient and stable materials are required to enable the widespread application of organic photovoltaics. In this Review, the challenges associated with designing low-cost materials, developing eco-friendly solvents and understanding intrinsic degradation mechanisms of organic photovoltaics are discussed.

A sacrificial layer with hexagonal symmetry is reported that can be used to peel and delaminate oxide substrates with hexagonal symmetry and beyond.

Fitting the resistance fluctuation data with a hidden Markov model helps uncover the complex free energy landscape and understand the glass relaxation dynamics of a phase-change material, GeTe.

Reliable control over photon number is essential for scalable quantum photonics, yet producing well-defined two-photon emission from quantum emitters remains challenging. Now, by exploiting a dark-state pathway to biexciton population in a quantum-dot microcavity, bright high-purity photon pairs have been generated, offering a promising route towards practical two-photon sources.

Highly dilute metal dopants arrest nanoparticle sintering by electronically stabilizing a few critical surface atoms, redefining how catalyst stability can be engineered at the atomic scale.

An advanced model is developed to pinpoint the parameters that control the bulk charge photogeneration yield and to provide design strategies for highly efficient organic solar cells.

Antiferroelectrics possess an antipolar ground state, and can be electrically driven into a polar phase. This Perspective discusses the history of these systems, defines these materials, surveys different types of antiferroelectricity and presents an outlook on future research pathways.